021.892 
A512r 
cop.  2 I 


- 

'i 


■ 


UNIVERSITY  OF 
ILLiNOiS  LIBRARY 
URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 
BOOKSTACKS 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2016 


https://archive.org/details/report00amer_0 


'' • 


T-JEPORT  of  the  committee  on  relations  between  the 

LIBRARY  AND  THE  IMUNICIPALITY.* 


In  presenting  this  final  '^  .pcrt,  your  Com- 
mittee finds  it  necessary  to  consider  and 
to  give  expression  to  two  points  of  view, 
both  of  which  are  represented  in  its  mem- 
bership and  neither  of  which  can  be  neg- 
lected— one  that  believes  that,  owing  to 
diversity  of  local  conditions  and  of  con- 
stitutional and  other  requirements  in  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  Union,  it  is  impossible 
to  frame  definitely  a model  library  law 
or  a model  library  section  of  a city  char- 
ter, and  the  other,  that  without  some  such 
expression  as  can  be  given  only  in  the 
form  of  a definite  body  of  law  of  this  kind, 
the  recommendations  of  the  Committee 
will  necessarily  be  vague  and  will  largely 
fail  of  effect. 

Your  committee  has  therefore  thought 
it  best  in  the  first  place  to  make  a state- 
ment of  the  things  that  a library  law  or 
-•harter  section  should,  in  its  opinion,  aim 
do,  giving  reasons  where  necessary ; 
and  in  the  second  place  to  present  a defi- 
nite example  of  the  way  in  which  these 
things  may  be  done,  accompanied  by  a 
warning  that  before  adopting  it  as  a mod- 
el in  any  specific  instance,  it  should  be 
carefully  studied  by  some  competent  per- 
son end  modified  to  suit  the  necessities  of 
the  ^ase.  Your  committee  realizes  also 
that  every  state  library  law  should  con- 
tain provisions,  such  as  those  regulating 
the  otate  Library  and  Library  Commission, 
which  do  not  fall  v/ithin  the  duties  as- 
signed to  this  committee  and  hence  are 
not  touched  upon  in  this  report. 

And  first,  regarding  the  aims  of  a li- 
brary law; 

(a)  We  reiterate  our  statement  of  last 
year  that  the  library  is  an  educational 
institution  and  that  education  is  a matter 
of  state  rather  than  of  local  concern.  If 
a state  already  has  a good  library  law 
which  has  worked  and  is  working  well  and 
satisfactorily  to  all  concerned,  local  li- 
braries should  be  left  in  operation  under 
the  provisions  of  the  law,  precisely  as  the 
schools  should  be  and  generally  are  left, 
no  matter  what  changes  in  the  form  of 

’Presented  to  the  Council  at  the  American 
Library  Association  Conference,  at  Kaaters- 
kill,  N.  Y.,  June  23-28,  1913. 


municipal  government  are  contemplated 
or  have  been  carried  into  effect.  If  the 
state  law  is  not  entirely  satisfactory,  it  is 
better  to  amend  it  than  to  try  to  better 
matters  through  the  local  charter.  The 
charter  may  well  contain,  to  avoid  the  pos- 
sibility of  conflict,  some  such  special  dis- 
claimer as  the  following:  “Nothing  in  this 
charter  shall  be  so  construed  as  to  inter- 
fere with  the  operation  of  the  public  li- 
brary under  the  library  laws  of  the  state.” 
If  the  library  law  contains  provisions  seem- 
ingly in  conflict  with  new  charter  provi- 
sions, some  additional  definition  may  be 
necessary. 

(b)  Possibly  we  are  not  yet  ready  for 
compulsory  library  establishment  through- 
out a state,  but  at  all  events  it  should  be 
made  simple  and  easy  for  any  public  tax- 
ing or  governing  body  to  establish  a free 
public  library  and  to  tax  itself  for  the 
support  of  that  library,  accepting  gifts 
where  necessary  and  obligating  itself  to 
fulfill  the  conditions  under  which  these 
gifts  are  made.  This  would  include  mu- 
nicipalities, counties,  townships,  school  dis^ 
tricts,  boards  of  education,  etc. 

The  library  should  be  assured  of  reason- 
able and  sufficient  financial  support,  either 
through  the  operation  of  a special-tax  pro- 
vision or  by  the  requirement  of  a minimum 
appropriation  by  the  authorities.  In  no 
case  should  the  existence  or  value  of  the 
library  be  placed  in  jeopardy  by  making 
possible  a capricious  withdrawal  or  less- 
ening of  support  by  the  local  authorities. 

(c)  The  library  should  be  administered 
by  an  independent  board  of  trustees,  not 
by  a single  commissioner,  and,  in  particu- 
lar, not  by  a commissioner  who  has  other 
matters  on  his  hands.  In  case  such  group- 
ing appears  necessary,  the  library  should 
be  placed  with  other  educational  agen- 
cies and  in  no  case  treated  as  a group  of 
buildings  or  a mere  agency  of  recreation. 
The  board  should  be  a body  corporate,  dis- 
tinct from  other  municipal  organizations 
and  departments,  with  pov/ers  of  succes- 
sion, power  to  sue  and  be  sued,  to  acquire 
and  hold  property,  etc.  The  terms  of  its 
members  should  not  expire  all  at  once,  so 
that  reasonable  continuity  in  policy  will  be 


insured.  It  should  have  power  to  take 
over  and  manage  other  city  libraries^ 
school  libraries  and,  by  contract,  libraries 
in  other  municipalities  or  communities. 

(d)  The  funds  of  the  library,  including 
those  derived  from  taxation,  bequest,  gift, 
and  library  fines  and  desk  receipts,  should 
i^;e  at  the  board’s  free  disposal  for  library 
purposes,  including  the  purchase  of  land 
and  the  erection  of  buildings.  They  should 
be  received  and  held  by  the  municipal  au- 
thorities, and  disbursed  on  voucher,  with 
the  same  safeguards  and  under  the  same 
auspices  as  those  required  for  other  pub- 
lic funds. 

(e)  The  library  should  be  operated  on 
the  merit  system,  in  the  same  way  that 
the  schools  are  so  operated — not  by  plac- 
ing the  selection  and  promotion  of  library 

employees  in  the  hands  of  the  same  board 
that  selects  clerks  and  mechanics  for  the 
city  departments,  but  by  requiring  that 
the  library  board  establish  and  carry  out 
an  efficient  system  of  service  satisfactory 
to  the  proper  authorities. 

The  board  should  have  entire  control  of 
its  own  working  force  and  should  initiate 
its  own  policies,  including  selection  of 
sites  and  planning  of  buildings,  its  libra- 
rian being  regarded  both  as  its  executive 
officer  and  as  its  expert  adviser,  to  whom 
the  choice  of  methods  and  the  manage- 
ment of  details  are  naturally  left.  He 
should  be  present  at  meetings  of  the  board 
and  may  serve  as  its  secretary. 

We  regard  as  satisfactory  any  body  of 
law  that  will  accomplish  the  results  aimed 
at  in  the  following  sections,  which  your 
committee  does  not  regard  as  couched  in 
legal  phraseology.  Before  being  used  in 
any  state  its  provisions  should  be  word- 
ed by  a competent  person  experienced  in 
drafting  bills  for  the  legislature  of  that 
state. 

Section  1 

Any  taxing  body  shall  have  authority  to 

levy  a tax,  not  less  than  mills  on 

the  dollar,  for  the  support  of  a free  public 
library  within  its  jurisdiction,  and  such 
tax  shall  be  levied  if  so  ordered  by  a ma- 
jority vote  of  all  voters  at  a general  elec- 
tion, on  petition  signed  by  voters. 

Any  governing  or  taxing  body  shall  have 
power  to  provide,  by  annual  appropriation, 
for  the  support  of  a free  public  library, 


whether  or  not  a tax  is  levied-  as  above  | 
provided,  or  to  enter  into  a contract  for  I 
library  service  with  another  governing  or  I 
taxing  body  or  . ’th  a private  corporation  | 
already  maintaining  such  a library.  i 

Section  2 j 

Any  library  supported  as  specified  in 
Section  1 shall  be  governed  by  a board  of  j 
not  less  than  five  or  more  than  nine  trust-  ! 
ees  (appointed  as  the  legislature  may  pro-  j 
vide),  which  board  shall  have  the  powers  i 
of  a public  corporation  and  shall  perform 
all  acts  necessary  and  convenient  for  the 
maintenance  and  operation  of  the  library. 

The  board  may  receive  gifts  and  be- 
quests, acquire  and  transfer  property,  real 
and  personal,  sue  and  be  sued.  It  shall 
manage  all  libraries  owned  by  the  city 
and  may  contract  with  other  public  bodies 
within  and  without  the  city,  to  render  li- 
brary service,  adding  to  its  number,  if 
mutually  so  agreed,  oiie  or  more  repre- 
sentatives of  such  public  body.  The  term^ 
of  the  members  shall  not  expire  coin" 
dently.  Any  member  may  be  removed  b-^ 
the  appointing  or  elective  power  for  stated 
cause.  i 

Section  3 ’ 

All  moneys  collected  for  the  use  of  the 
library,  whether  by  taxation  or  otherwise,  ? 
shall  be  in  custody  of  the  city  treasurer  ' 
and  shall  be  paid  out  by  him  on  vouchers 
duly  attested  by  the  board  and  audited 
by  the  proper  city  authority.  ^ 

Section  4 < 

All  employees  of  the  library  shall  be  i 

appointed  and  promoted  for  merit  only,  | 
and  the  board  shall  adopt  such  measures  ' 
as  will  in  its  judgment  conduce  to  this  , 
end. 

Section  5 

If  a gift  is  offered  to  the  library  on  con- 
ditions involving  the  performance  of  cer- 
tain acts  annually,  the  municipality  may 
obligate  itself  to  perform  such  acts,  by 
ordinance  which  shall  not  be  repealed. 

Section  6 

The  Board  shall  submit  an  animal  report 
of  its  work  in  detail,  with  its  receipts  and 
expenditures,  to  the  tax-levying  body. 

For  the  Committee, 

ARTHUR  E.  BOSTWICK, 

Chairman. 


